Last week’s Generations column on Ageism Awareness Day was spot on, as was the Area Agency on Aging’s LinkedIn TED talk post on ageism (https://lnkd.in/gt4Tfjd). Both were the perfect springboard for talking about age-friendly communities.
The World Health Organization (WHO) calls ageism the most socially acceptable prejudice in the world and rails against it. A prejudice against our future selves, how bizarre. Population pyramids are visual depictions of countries, geographies or cultures, using bands of color showing how many people are alive in the varied age groups that make up society. They’re called population pyramids because they typically were shaped like a pyramid, fat on the bottom with youth and narrowing to a point as you go up to the older ages.
We may have to change the title from “pyramid” to something else, maybe “pillar”. Why? Because many pyramids now depict relatively equal numbers in each age group. It looks more like a colored column with a tiny point on top.
What’s that telling us? It says most people are living longer with the years of decline reduced to a small fraction at the end of life. A huge segment of the population is thriving late in life. And we need them – in business, in labor, in expertise.
How best to capitalize on this change?
Looking at population pillars, with relatively equal numbers in all segments, the conclusion is simple. We must recognize our communities are intergenerational and interdependent. When we look at the infrastructure of communities, we need to make sure key components are accessible to all.
For example, when planning community engagement and volunteer opportunities, there must be layers of choice, not one fix for everyone. Involvement must be easy for all ages and for fitness, mobility and ability levels. Same goes for culture and lifelong learning events. There must be diverse means of learning, social connectivity and recreation.
Access to health and supportive services must be easy. Especially with our bounty in Southwest Michigan, all residents need access to healthy, local food. Additionally, there must be a wide range of affordable housing choices: apartments, condos, free-standing houses. Housing must have easy access to food, shopping and other people.
A key component of public safety and security is social connection. Lighting and porches and benches all help. From residential to commercial, social connectivity should be fostered.
Planning and zoning needs to encourage mixed-use and pedestrian-friendly development. Tools are available to provide deeper dives into knowing what’s required, what can be changed and how to enact change.
Transportation and mobility is critical. Extended pedestrian paths, sidewalks and shoulders to allow for alternative modes of transportation. Bicycles, scooters, golf carts, parents with strollers and people with walkers or a disability need to be inherent in the planning.
There are many factions promoting age-friendly communities. WHO promotes global age-friendly cities, the hospital industry promotes age-friendly health systems, AARP promotes a livability index by zip code. The list goes on.
USAging has a whole section on livable communities with clickable resources for toolkits and planning aids from a host of reputable sources. Check them out at USAging.org. All fight ageism and work toward acceptance and support of our older selves. The focus on age-friendliness acknowledges ageism and the need for inclusion.
Locally, the work of the Area Agency on Aging is about maximizing vitality and independence through the lifespan and creating infrastructure to make that happen. Find out what’s happening at their 2023 Annual Celebration, themed Inspiring An Age-Friendly Community. Be in the know, come from 3-5 p.m., Oct. 23 to Shadowland Ballroom at Silver Beach. Go to areaagencyonaging.org for more information and to register. See you there.
Lynn Kellogg is former CEO of Region IV Area Agency on Aging in Southwest Michigan. Questions on age or independence services? Call the Info-Line for Aging & Disability at 800-654-2810 or visit areaagencyonaging.org. The Generations Column appears each week in The Herald-Palladium.